Blues Discussion Thread 2018-2019 - Part II

[MortiestOfMortys]

It says a Ryan Miller is going to be Director of Hockey Operations. Is that the goalie Ryan Miller? I doubt it because he still has a contract with Anaheim, but the name is linked to the goalie Miller's hockeydb page on the article I saw. I also assume its for San Antonio, since it was mentioned right after McDonald taking over as GM of SA. I think DA is GM and Director of hockey Ops for the big club. Anyone know who this guy is and what he will be doing?

DA is *President* of Hockey Ops. Not sure what the distinction in the roles is, but the titles are different. Just seems like we’re getting folks some raises. BA and Miller have been with the org for forever now, and so has McDonald (who ran Peoria way back in the day).

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

I’m thrilled with the Glen Wesley hire. He’s had a direct hand in developing Carolina’s young d-corps, which is outstanding and has turned mid-round picks like Pesce and Slavvin into very high-quality players.

Between him and Daigneault, San Antonio should hopefully treat Mikkola, Schmaltz, Reinke, Walman, Wotherspoon, and Lofquist well next year. That’s great news for us, hopefully.

 

[stlbluz]

Any body notice this:

Senior Advisor to Amateur Scouting - Larry Pleau

I could have sworn he retired years ago.

 

[Majorityof1]

Ryan Miller was previously director of hockey administration - he's a cap/contract guy, not the goalie. It's for the Blues, not SA. He's been with the Blues for several years.

Thanks. Don't really follow the front office guys too much outside of the big ones. So I guess its just a title change then. It just seems silly to have a President of Hockey Ops (Army) and a Director. It would be interesting to see an organizational chart with responsibilities for the Blues. Corporate titles are so useless because they are used so differently in different organizations. In one org a Director would be the highest position, basically the same as a President or CEO. In another, its nothing more than a middle manager.

 

[bleedblue1223]

It says a Ryan Miller is going to be Director of Hockey Operations. Is that the goalie Ryan Miller? I doubt it because he still has a contract with Anaheim, but the name is linked to the goalie Miller's hockeydb page on the article I saw. I also assume its for San Antonio, since it was mentioned right after McDonald taking over as GM of SA. I think DA is GM and Director of hockey Ops for the big club. Anyone know who this guy is and what he will be doing?

He's the cap guy. Director is typically below President in business hierarchy, so roles are changing, they just get a fancy title and presumably a raise.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Any body notice this:

Senior Advisor to Amateur Scouting - Larry Pleau

I could have sworn he retired years ago.

He did, it's just a part-time gig.

 

[tfriede2]

Thanks. Don't really follow the front office guys too much outside of the big ones. So I guess its just a title change then. It just seems silly to have a President of Hockey Ops (Army) and a Director. It would be interesting to see an organizational chart with responsibilities for the Blues. Corporate titles are so useless because they are used so differently in different organizations. In one org a Director would be the highest position, basically the same as a President or CEO. In another, its nothing more than a middle manager.

Agreed, seems like more of a title change than anything else, but who knows.

 

[MissouriMook]

Any body notice this:

Senior Advisor to Amateur Scouting - Larry Pleau

I could have sworn he retired years ago.

Pretty much just a retirement plan as I understand it. As an advisor, he probably gets a modest salary (retirement income) to be available to bounce thing off of from time to time and maybe attend a few games and meetings.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Ryan Miller was previously director of hockey administration - he's a cap/contract guy, not the goalie. It's for the Blues, not SA. He's been with the Blues for several years.

Yeah, Ryan Miller seems to be a quiet but key front office guy for them. Army is President of Hockey Ops (in addition to GM) so now Ryan is Director of Hockey Ops. And Dave Taylor remains VP of Hockey Ops. And Al MacInnis remains Senior Advisor to GM and Larry Robinson remains Sr. Consultant to Hockey Ops.

What all do they all do? Not sure. But Ryan Miller sure seems to be highly valued.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Pretty much just a retirement plan as I understand it. As an advisor, he probably gets a modest salary (retirement income) to be available to bounce thing off of from time to time and maybe attend a few games and meetings.

Yeah, my understanding is that it’s a very part-time job for Pleau. But he does some scouting and I’d assume they bouce ideas off of him too. And if you watch the draft, he’s been at the Blues draft table still for years since he stopped being GM so clearly, he has a voice in who the Blues draft still, but with Bill Army being the main guy in terms of amateur scouting.

 

[Bluesfan54]

This has been a pretty good off-season, eh?

 

[Novacain]

This has been a pretty good off-season, eh?

I'm not sure if I can think of a better one we've had. Like, I think we are better off now then if we'd have just signed Tavares.

 

[Note Worthy]

I feel like I remembered JR saying that Brodeur was most certainly staying with the blues and he was assured by Armstrong. Just continuing these hot takes over the summer and into preseason.

FWIW here was JR's response to that when someone asked him about the contradiction (for those who don't have The Athletic and can't see this stuff):

"Thanks for allowing me to explain myself.

I have been asking the right questions of the right people since the end of the season and Army and Marty have both said that he was coming back. But that had changed in the past few weeks and there’s obviously no reason for them to share that information if they’re trying to keep it close to the vest. Obviously no one outside the organization has heard either because it hadn’t been reported.

So yes, the chat and the article do contradict each other. But I did say in my response in the chat that “unless something changed,” he’s coming back.

Well, something had changed and I reported it as soon as I found out. Hope that clears it up. Thanks!"

 

[kimzey59]

Any body notice this:

Senior Advisor to Amateur Scouting - Larry Pleau

I could have sworn he retired years ago.

Pleau has exactly one job; Chairing the meeting to set our Draft board.

The Blues have one of the most complicated methods for setting their Draft rankings in the League and it started back with Pleau and Jarmo. It's typically a week long event(typically in early May) with every person who has any kind of input to put on a prospect being given a chance to speak for a few minutes(and not just scouts; I know for a fact that at one point they had Bernie and Chase in the meeting because they watched a Frozen 4 game and wanted their input on some of the kids in that game). It takes a lot of oversight to execute the process smoothly and Pleau was kept on specifically to oversee the event.

The other 51 weeks of the year; Pleau is retired.

 

[Brian39]

Pleau has exactly one job; Chairing the meeting to set our Draft board.

The Blues have one of the most complicated methods for setting their Draft rankings in the League and it started back with Pleau and Jarmo. It's typically a week long event(typically in early May) with every person who has any kind of input to put on a prospect being given a chance to speak for a few minutes(and not just scouts; I know for a fact that at one point they had Bernie and Chase in the meeting because they watched a Frozen 4 game and wanted their input on some of the kids in that game). It takes a lot of oversight to execute the process smoothly and Pleau was kept on specifically to oversee the event.

The other 51 weeks of the year; Pleau is retired.

That's fascinating. How did you learn that?

 

[Brian39]

FWIW here was JR's response to that when someone asked him about the contradiction (for those who don't have The Athletic and can't see this stuff):

"Thanks for allowing me to explain myself.

I have been asking the right questions of the right people since the end of the season and Army and Marty have both said that he was coming back. But that had changed in the past few weeks and there’s obviously no reason for them to share that information if they’re trying to keep it close to the vest. Obviously no one outside the organization has heard either because it hadn’t been reported.

So yes, the chat and the article do contradict each other. But I did say in my response in the chat that “unless something changed,” he’s coming back.

Well, something had changed and I reported it as soon as I found out. Hope that clears it up. Thanks!"

I'm guessing JR got hosed by Army there because he asked the question before the organization was ready to give an honest answer. Nothing you can do about that. Organizations lie from time to time and this doesn't seem like a situation where he was participating in a ruse to fool fans. It happens.

 

[kimzey59]

That's fascinating. How did you learn that?

The parts about Pleau's involvement with the process I've heard from a number of people.

As for the Chase and Bernie part; I was in the right place at the right time.
Chase and Bernie were the last people Pleau and the scouting staff wanted to interview for that particular day and afterwards the two of them went to a local bar for some drinks and I happened to be sitting a few seats over from them with a few friends.
Admittedly, I missed more than a few chunks of the conversation(I honestly wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I was just too close to them to not catch some clips of the conversation); but they spent a good 15-20 minutes talking about Pleau's process(I forget the exact phrase used but Bernie thought it was crazy to get that involved in making a Draft board) and some of the prospects(for a time reference; it wasn't his Draft year but they talked specifically about Johnny Gaudreau, and neither was a particular fan of his at the time).

 

[PiggySmalls]

Strickland mentioned on NHL Radio Network that Broduer is going back to Devils in a business role. Devils are supposed to announce it later this week.

 

[Dbrownss]

The parts about Pleau's involvement with the process I've heard from a number of people.

As for the Chase and Bernie part; I was in the right place at the right time.
Chase and Bernie were the last people Pleau and the scouting staff wanted to interview for that particular day and afterwards the two of them went to a local bar for some drinks and I happened to be sitting a few seats over from them with a few friends.
Admittedly, I missed more than a few chunks of the conversation(I honestly wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I was just too close to them to not catch some clips of the conversation); but they spent a good 15-20 minutes talking about Pleau's process(I forget the exact phrase used but Bernie thought it was crazy to get that involved in making a Draft board) and some of the prospects(for a time reference; it wasn't his Draft year but they talked specifically about Johnny Gaudreau, and neither was a particular fan of his at the time).

Talk about the biggest egg in the face of 99% of scouts/GMs

 

[Dbrownss]

Strickland mentioned on NHL Radio Network that Broduer is going back to Devils in a business role. Devils are supposed to announce it later this week.

I think he got that wrong, because later he said Brodeur would be involved in the amateur side of the Devils

 

[Brian39]

The parts about Pleau's involvement with the process I've heard from a number of people.

As for the Chase and Bernie part; I was in the right place at the right time.
Chase and Bernie were the last people Pleau and the scouting staff wanted to interview for that particular day and afterwards the two of them went to a local bar for some drinks and I happened to be sitting a few seats over from them with a few friends.
Admittedly, I missed more than a few chunks of the conversation(I honestly wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I was just too close to them to not catch some clips of the conversation); but they spent a good 15-20 minutes talking about Pleau's process(I forget the exact phrase used but Bernie thought it was crazy to get that involved in making a Draft board) and some of the prospects(for a time reference; it wasn't his Draft year but they talked specifically about Johnny Gaudreau, and neither was a particular fan of his at the time).

That's all awesome info, thanks for sharing it. I'm really interested in how different player evaluation/development is treated around the league. From a Blues perspective, this also calms some nerves about how a promotion for B Armstrong will impact our draft ability. I have to imagine that a promotion/raise will come with some extra duties and responsibilities that will draw him away from his responsibilities as director of amateur scouting. Having this type of internal infrastructure already led by Pleau is a good sign that we should continue to be able to scout well.

 

[pawnjohn]

Nothing mind blowing, but for those looking for some news, here is an article about Fabbri's training and coming back from his ACL injuries.


Blues' Fabbri set to prove himself all over again after year and a half on the sideline


Quick Summary:
Has been working with Matt Nichol from Biosteel since last December.

In addition to traditional rehab/training has included visual/eye and awareness training.

Also has been training with National Ballet of Canada and gymnastics training.

Idea behind the unorthodox training stems from research that both visual/perceptual awareness and balance/equilibrium training can help to decrease the rate of ACL injuries.

 

[Shwabeal]

Great to hear that he's working extremely hard to get back and make sure it doesn't happen again. His off-ice drive/work ethic was questioned early on, but I guess there's nothing like a potentially career derailing injury to give someone a wake up call when they seemed to think success was a foregone conclusion. If he can come back as even a 40-50 point player, this forward group is going to be deadly this year.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Nothing mind blowing, but for those looking for some news, here is an article about Fabbri's training and coming back from his ACL injuries.


Blues' Fabbri set to prove himself all over again after year and a half on the sideline


Quick Summary:
Has been working with Matt Nichol from Biosteel since last December.

In addition to traditional rehab/training has included visual/eye and awareness training.

Also has been training with National Ballet of Canada and gymnastics training.

Idea behind the unorthodox training stems from research that both visual/perceptual awareness and balance/equilibrium training can help to decrease the rate of ACL injuries.

Yeah, I found that interesting about the ballet and gymnastics training. I’m sure some will want to laugh at it but those folks have to be ridiculously strong. I know nothing about ballet but one of my friends in college was on the gymnastics team. He was only 5’3” or so but he could’ve broken me like a pencil if he wanted to. It’s ridiculous how strong those guys (and girls) are and the grueling training they do.

Hopefully that sort of training helped Fabs. I’ve heard good stuff from the visual sort of training too. Sounds similar to the training Hutton did that he says really helped him track pucks better. But I’d think Fabbri’s was more on tracking players more than pucks but yeah, it’s crazy what you can practice and improve these days.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I tore my ACL playing Lacrosse and coming back from it, it's incredible how helpful it was doing activities focused on improving balance was. Someone got me to do yoga, and it helped out. Some of it is trying to strengthen the little muscles in the knee, the stabilizers, but also convincing your mind that everything is back to normal, so you don't overcompensate. Getting the mind back to 100% after those injuries is key.

Awareness training gets the mind right, and ballet/gymnastics will get his balance right.